Vulnerability at a Young Age: A Privacy Concern

Melisa Esqueda

Being part of the International Privacy Literacy Project Team has not only exposed me to various privacy topics on an international level but also trained me to become a contributor on Wikipedia. The privacy topics from Wikipedia articles fall into the categories of privacy, cybersecurity and surveillance. Being part of this team meant juggling my Italian language skills with my Wikipedia skills. As someone who is only proficient in Italian, I had to do double the work learning how to use Wikipedia and also brushing up my Italian language skills in order to be able to use Italian Wikipedia. 

Making contributions in Italian Wikipedia is like traveling to a new country: you need to keep the rules in mind when exploring new places. The rules and features of Italian Wikipedia vary from those of English Wikipedia, as Italian Wikipedia has additional restrictions. For instance, moving an article into the mainspace is more complicated because there isn’t a button made specifically for this process like there is in English Wikipedia. There are also a lot of details that needed to be kept in mind when it comes to contributing in Italian Wikipedia. For instance, the format of citations in Italian Wikipedia is very different from that in English Wikipedia because there are certain details, such as adding article words before the name of the publisher, that are added in these citations. Also, Italian words follow gender rules when it comes to using them in sentences. With all of these rules to keep in mind, it took awhile for me to get adjusted to using Wikipedia in Italian. With weekly practice, I was able to familiarize myself with using Italian Wikipedia and strengthen my Italian language skills. Using Italian Wikipedia is a constant learning process as some contributions get accepted and other contributions get rejected. Wikipedia is a community that allows everyone to make contributions. 

 Reading the assigned Wikipedia articles made me realize how privacy concerns start at a very young age. Privacy has always been a major concern among societies for the longest. Adults are fully conscious of finding ways about protecting their privacy, from covering the camera of their laptops to disabling the microphone from their electronic equipment. However, the technological advancement of toys has increased privacy risks among children, as they’re not aware of these risks. The Italian Wikipedia article that really stood out to me in terms of privacy concerns was “Giocattoli Collegati,” which translates to “Connected Toys” in Italian. This article touched on the various cybersecurity issues that arise from connected toys. Connected toys have features that can potentially collect information from children without children realizing it. Companies use this information for their financial gain at the cost of children’s privacy. Knowing how children’s minds are developing at that age, children tend to not hold back whenever they speak. 

In conclusion, being part of this research project has been a long journey that consisted of learning professional skills, learning about privacy, learning about how to navigate in Wikipedia of both languages, and strengthening my Italian language skills. Consistently completing the assigned research tasks on a weekly basis allowed me to become more diligent, meticulous and punctual. These three characteristics are essential for the real world. Furthermore, being able to learn about privacy through Wikipedia articles has been fascinating because it allows me to see how privacy concerns are being handled from a different perspective, such as the privacy concerns that parents have regarding their children using connected toys. Using Wikipedia has been really educational because I was given the opportunity to make contributions in Wikipedia articles. Being able to make edits on Italian Wikipedia on a weekly basis strengthened my Italian language skills. All the learning experiences that I had in this research project have been formed into an editing guide that I created, which will be super helpful for future students who will make edits in Italian Wikipedia in the future.